The fresh fruits are now beginning to flood the markets, but do we know what pesticides we’ll be chomping along with the strawberries, blueberries, and peaches? There are residues of bee-killing neonic pesticides in many of our fruits, unless they are organic. Over the past two decades these harmful pesticides have exploded in use and are sold not just to farmers but to many of us who want to kill weeds on our lawns.
Roundup contains chemicals that are highly toxic to bees, and, quite frankly, there are questions about its toxicity to human beings. It contains acetamiprid, found in almost 33% of strawberries. One recent study showed that almost 50% of children ages 3 to 5 had this lovely chemical in their urine.
Colorado just became the ninth state to ban neonic pesticides. But go into any Home Depot or Lowe’s and you’ll find huge display of this poison. The European Union banned such bee-killing pesticides. It’s time that we should do the same.
Prayer for the Day
We say we marvel in your creation, O Source of all life,
We say that we marvel in the miracle of life all around us,
But our actions belie our words, for, in truth,
We look to the earth only for what it can give us.
Your creation is more than what we take of your precious resources,
Help us to see that all life is connected through your hand,
In the name of the One who came to show us the way,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
From Palisade peaches to Rocky Ford melons, apples to alfalfa, our state depends on pollinators for a healthy food supply and healthy gardens.
- Danny Katz, CoPIRG executive director
It was the bee and the butterfly that survived, not the dinosaur.
- Meridel LeSeur, American writer (1900-1996)
My child, eat honey, for it is good,
And the drippings of the honeycomb are sweet to your taste.
Know that wisdom is such to your soul;
If you find it, you will find a future, and your hope will not be cut off.
Proverbs 24: 13-14